Rick Moore, the father who recently won a lengthy court battle against the North Vancouver school district on behalf of his dyslexic son Jeff, will speak Wednesday Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at Kenneth Gordon School in North Vancouver.

A promo on the school’s website describes the event this way:

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court agreed with Rick Moore that the failure of the public school system to provide his son Jeffrey with the support he needed to meaningfully access the educational opportunities available to all children in British Columbia was discriminatory. The Court ordered the local board of education to pay damages and reimburse the Moores the cost of the specialized private education they incurred to successfully educate Jeffrey.

Rick Moore argues that the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada provides parents with an opportunity to influence the future of special education services received by children with learning disabilities.

The Moores enrolled Jeff at Kenneth Gordon School when he was in Grade 3 after concluding he would not get the help he needed in the public school system.

The head of the school, Jim Christopher, suggests the court ruling could result in a better understanding of the responsibility of public schools to provide programs that address the needs of all students.

“It might also lead to school districts looking for creative approaches to providing services that are currently needed but under-delivered,” he says in a blog post titled The Legacy of Jeffrey Moore. “It should be understood, that no school district is going to willingly admit that it is not doing enough for all of the learners in its care. An aggressive or confrontational approach is not likely to open many doors in that regard. On the other hand, there may be some political will to look at contracting out services to schools such as ours or considering a voucher system that would allow parents to ‘spend’ additional provincial funding on the approved programme or service of their choice. In an election year, it is difficult to know whether either of these two options would be palatable to any political party.”

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